CITY ROOM; Top Names For Babies Are Isabella And Jayden

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

Published: August 30, 2012

Looking pink-skinned, diminutive and a little bit wrinkly, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appeared in City Hall's Blue Room on Wednesday morning to deliver one of the year's more adorable bundles of news: the way we name our babies now.

Flanked by infants and toddlers, the mayor announced the most popular names chosen by New York City parents in 2011: Isabella and Jayden, both retaining their respective gender's top spot for a third year in a row.

Cooing, remarkably well-behaved bearers of the leading monikers had been brought to the news conference, parents in tow, to commemorate the occasion. The mayor, in a more upbeat mood than his often-cranky one, seemed delighted with his young guests.

Out came the onesies and complimentary bibs, which featured a seal of the city and the insignia "Official N.Y.C. Baby." The mayor pinned a bib on Jayden Marthone, who appeared unimpressed.

The city gained 623 Isabellas and 851 Jaydens last year, out of 123,029 New York-born babies in all. Procreative activities waned a bit from 2010, with the number of city births slipping 1.4 percent.

Brooklyn topped the births-by-borough list with 41,303 babies, although few of those will reflect the ultimate in hometown pride: Brooklyn, once a somewhat popular name, ranked 141st on this year's list, behind Santiago and London.

Michael - "a fine name," as Mr. Bloomberg put it - moved up two spots to No. 5, a decent showing for a name that had ruled for 51 years as the most popular in the city until it was deposed in 2007.

It was a tough year for Sarah, which slipped to No. 11 after charting as high as No. 4 in 2007. Alexander and Aiden cracked the top 10 after an extended absence. And famous names like Ashton, Darwin, Kennedy and Usher were lower in the ranks.

At least one baby in attendance on Wednesday showed a politician's taste for the spotlight.

The baby, Gunnar, began crying soon after Mr. Bloomberg began his remarks. He did not stop until his mother carried him from the audience up to the mayor's podium, where Gunnar took his place in front of the cameras and reporters. He was perfectly content from then on.